I was tethered to the yard today waiting for a UPS delivery so I stood at
the ferny tangle edge of where my garden melds into the woods, enjoying the
warmth of a sunbreak on my back and delighting in the way the low angle of
the sun highlighted the moss and lichens. It was a lively scene, all the
usual winter birds were out and about, taking advantage of the brief respite
between storm tracks, and very amiably chattering among themselves. There
was a group of towhees all together, I finally organized them all into a
total of six birds, one bright male, 3 duller brown youngsters and a couple
paler birds that might have been females. I was not paying too much
attention to them until I noticed several of them passing by, each one
stopping in the same little salmonberry thicket. One would fly in and give
the winter call, creeeep! and then the next one would fly into the same part
of the thicket, causing the first bird to fly to the next tangle. The next
bird two birds then followed the first bird into the same place.
Intriguing!

Since they were easy to follow around, and I had plenty of time and
interest, I followed them for a couple of hours, and many times, all six
birds all followed one another in the pattern described above. In every case
where I could determine whom was first, it was the bright male in the lead.
They did not always follow each other exactly, but they made three large
loops, using the same cover shrubs each time, staying roughly in the same,
one at a time formation. To my interest, the youngsters in the middle of
the "line" did all the vocalizing that happened at any particular stop.
The UPS trucks arrival made me break off my observations but now I am filled
with questions about how birds use my yard and surrounding area. If I
didn't already have way too many projects I would consider marking the shrub
thickets they used and continuing my observations over the winter to see if
the pattern repeats itself, or was just the flight path of the day.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
South Snohomish County, Ricci Creek Watershed
The Environmental Science School
HYPERLINK
"http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm"http://www.nonprofitpages.com/ni
ca/SVE.htm
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